


♦ The Silence is so Loud♦

by Stephie68



Category: American Horror Story, American Horror Story: Asylum
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-05 18:44:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18834520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stephie68/pseuds/Stephie68





	♦ The Silence is so Loud♦

Walking up to Briarcliff Asylum, to say I was nervous was quite an understatement. Having Dr. Oliver Thredson at my side didn’t seem to help this, either. I never could pinpoint the reason, but he made me so uneasy. As we came to the door I shook my head, ridding my mind of these thoughts. We were here for one thing, I was here for one thing. There was only one patient of Briarcliff that I needed to be concerned with, and I was only here to be the assistant of Dr. Thredson. I was just here to observe and learn, for the most part at least. He had assured me that I would get a chance to ask some questions and practice sessions with the man, but even if that didn’t happen, I would be okay, because I was frightened of our new patient. The  _ one _ person we were worried about, the  _ one _ patient we were here for.

Bloody Face.

Well, Kit walker to be more precise. It was Dr. Thredsons job to decide if Kit Walker was sane enough to stand trial, or if he would live his life out here in Briarcliff. It was my job to listen and learn from Oliver Thredson.

“Magnolia?”

The word brought me out of her thoughts, and my green eyes looked up to meet the doctors dark ones. “Dr. Thredson,  _ please _ call me Maggie,” I insisted. For whatever reason, he refused to call me by what I preferred, and he would only call me by my full name. I wasn’t sure why, but this infuriated me to no end. He held the door open and gestured for me to go first, to which I complied. “So do we need to meet with the head… Father or Sister…?” My sentences trailed off with a tone of unsureness. I wasn’t too familiar with religion, much less how things in a place like this would run.

After everything was sorted out, I followed the doctor to the common room where we would wait for Mr. Kit Walker. Two security guards came in, escorting a young man who I took in with wide eyes, for a moment I viewed his curly locks, dark eyes, and light skin before Dr. Thredson stood to retrieve him from the guards, who manhandled him until the approach of the doctor.

“I can handle it from here. Thank you,” Oliver spoke, and my eyes travelled back to the form of our new patient. The two guards left and I stood, walking to stand at his side.

“Mr. Walker, Dr. Oliver Thredson, This is my assistant, Miss Magnolia Vallentine,” he informed the young male, extending his hand to him.

“ _ Maggie _ .”

Even though I felt a pang of fear, I knew that I needed to be professional, so I followed suite, extending my hand to Kit and giving a firm handshake. The skin of his hand was warm and calloused, he had been a working man.

The three of us moved to a more secluded area so that Dr. Thredson and I could continue our work.

“Do you know why I’m here, Kit?”

“You’re the headshrinker the courts sent to see if I’m crazy,” Kit spoke, before going on to say that if he was deemed crazy, he would live here for the rest of his life, if he wasn’t he would be put on trial and fried.

This man was totally down to Earth. He wasn’t crazy, he was stating facts. I wrote in my notepad, glancing up to see what Dr. Thredson was typing every once in a while. My eyes squinted when I saw that he had deemed their patient manipulative, and looked through my notes of what he had said.

“Trouble is, I’m not crazy. And I didn’t kill those ladies.”

“And your wife?” I spoke up, earning a hard glance from the doctor next to me. I grimaced, but ignored the look and looked back at Kit for his answer.

“Alma’s not dead, that body didn’t have a head.”

I felt anger. How could he commit crimes like this and act like he didn’t know? My teeth bit down on the skin inside my cheek, looking over at the doctor. I couldn’t point it out, I was so mad I couldn’t speak.

“None of the bodies had heads, Kit.”

As I collected myself, the conversation became unreal. We began to discuss the things he told the police, about seeing his wife when he had been abducted by… by aliens. That the men from outer space had her. My eyes met his once again, and I saw the utter conviction by which he spoke. Was this all a rouse to shift the blame from himself for these murders?

_ Diagnosis: acute clinical insanity. _ This was the conclusion that Dr. Thredson had come to, they were the words that I saw typed on his paper, and I raised an eyebrow before I looked up at Oliver. This man wasn’t insane. Any freshman psychology student would come to the same conclusion. With this in mind, she couldn’t let him come to this conclusion so easily, she couldn’t let him just leave it there.

“Dr. Thredson with all due respect-”

“That is my diagnosis, Magnolia.”

My teeth gritted before I corrected him for a third time today, “ _ Maggie _ .” When I looked back to my notepad I noticed a large pool of ink from where I had been pressing the pen into the same spot. Letting out a sigh, I met eyes with Kit once again before Dr. Thredson stood and ushered me along with him. “Have a good rest of your day, Mr. Walker.”

“You as well, Ms. Vallentine.”

How could someone capable of such awful things be so polite? I simply gave him a smile and a nod, but my eyes remained fixed on his until I had passed too far beyond him. I followed Thredson obediently to talk to Sister Jude, though I stood in the background as they talked about Kit Walker and his state, surprised when he informed her that he hadn’t determined Kit’s state of mind yet. I simply listened complained to her about the conditions and treatments done here. I didn’t agree with Oliver on many things, but this, I did agree on. Since we arrived here, we had witnessed crazy things, abuse, malpractice. Electroshock Therapy, which was no longer recognized as a humane form of treatment.

I was beyond surprised at how Sister Jude snapped back at Oliver in such a way, telling him to focus on who he was here for. “I’m sorry Sister Jude but I don’t think it’s appropriate-”

“Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s another unfortunate family who requires our care.” What was it with the interruption that I had encountered today? This was the second time my words had simply been ignored.

“So, um… Is it time for us to go?” I asked, glancing at the doctor as his gaze remained up the stairs where Sister Jude was going.

“I’m going to discuss with her some more, you… Just find something to do.”

 

_ Find something to do. _

A sigh escaped my lungs as I walked through the halls of the creepy manor. While I was looking around me at the dim lights and the bleak walls, I felt my shoulder bump into someone else's. My gaze fell from the ceiling to meet a woman with pale skin and a sweet smile. “I’m so sorry Miss,” the blonde woman spoke with a honey-sweet voice, though she seemed afraid, was she afraid of me? Afraid that I’d give her a tongue-lashing? After meeting Sister Jude, I wouldn’t really be surprised. This poor woman probably got yelled at regularly.

“No, it was my fault, Sister. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going,” I assured her, trying my best to give her a kind smile. “I’m Maggie, and you?”

“Mary Eunice, ah-well, Sister Mary Eunice,” the woman somehow managed to stutter out her name.

“Nice to meet you, Sister Mary Eunice. Please don’t worry about the bump, it was no big deal,” I insisted, I didn’t want her to dwell on it, as it had been my fault after all. “Would you mind pointing me in the direction of the common room? I seem to have gotten myself lost in the halls.” The manor seemed almost like a maze, she wondered if it was common for people to get lost. Mary Eunice gave another sweet smile before turning around, leading me back towards the common room where all of the patients spent their time. “Thank you Sister.”

She gave me a nod before dismissing herself. I couldn’t help but feel bad for her, wondering why she would work in a place like this. She was so kind, she didn’t deserve to live in a place like this and work with these people every day. My gaze wandered around the room at all of the patients here, until they landed once again on Kit. The man was sitting with another woman she didn’t recognize, as well as someone that she did. Lana Winters. Why was she here? Didn’t she work for one of the papers or a magazine or something? She approached the group, leaning down to Lana. “Miss Winters,” I spoke, earning her gaze. “I’m Maggie,” I greeted, giving her a smile and offering my hand. I was only acknowledged with a hard stare, she didn’t make a move to shake my hand or talk to me. In fact, it seemed like I’d interrupted something.

“Um, I know it’s not my business, but why are you here?” She wasn’t known as mentally ill, and from reading her writing and hearing things about her she wasn’t.

“You’re right. It’s not your business.”

A small breath of air left my nose as I took in her response. “Right,” I spoke, drawing out the word, “Sorry I asked.”

“Don’t mind her, she’s like that with everyone,” Kit voiced, and I turned my eyes to him. Pressing my lips together, I wasn’t really sure how to respond. I still hadn’t fully decided how I felt about this man, but… The look in his eyes, he didn’t look like a killer. I had looked into the eyes of a criminal, and no matter how charming he may be, he didn’t have the look in his eyes that I was looking for. “You can sit if you’d like, Ms. Valentine.”

“You can call me Maggie, Kit.”

A smile grew on his lips. I gave a half-smile and sat, though I sat a bit far. I was still concerned about him, but I wanted to get to know him better. In a professional stance. It was my job to know everything about him.

“I didn’t kill my wife, you know that right?”

“I do not,” I answered simply, letting out a breath. His eyes held sorrow when they met mine again. What did it matter to him if I believed him? My opinion held no importance to the court, to Dr. Thredson, to anyone. So why him? “Okay,” I spoke, straightening my body so that it was easier to be at eye level with him, as he was taller than me, “look at me.” His eyes met mine. I stared into his eyes for a moment, not saying anything.

“If Kit says he didn’t do it then he didn’t,” the woman beside him spat. My eyes rolled uncontrollably before I looked to her, crossing my arms.

“That’s not your job to determine.” She went quiet after this, and I looked back to the doe-eyed boy in front of me. “Tell me the truth, I’ll know if you lie. It’s kind of like a superpower of mine.” I couldn’t really know with absolute certainty, but I could read his body language and gauge from there. Dilating pupils, not keeping eye contact, it was things like this that would call himself out.

“I didn’t even know most of those ladies. I didn’t kill my Alma, I love… Loved her.”

His eyes stared into mine, the only thing that I saw there was grief. He missed his wife, and who wouldn’t? “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“I believe you, Kit Walker.” A moment later the guards burst into the room, trying to corral the patients to their rooms. Kit gave a grimace before nodding to me, which I returned. “I’ll be back with Dr. Thredson,” I assured him. One of the dressed-in-white guards grabbed my arm, and my gaze snapped up to him. “ _ Excuse  _ me. I am not one of your patients, obviously.” He didn’t let go, it seemed that he wasn’t listening to me at all. “Hey! I’m not a patient here!” I raised my voice, earning the eyes of the patients around me, Kit, Grace, and Lana included.

“How am I to know?” the guard spoke with only malice.

“Are you daft?” Red, my gaze was filled with red hot anger, the feeling boiling through my veins. I balled my hand into a fist, my nails dug into the soft skin of my palm but currently, I could care less. When the guard still didn’t bother to let go of me, I pulled my arm back and before I knew it, my fist was colliding with his nose. He let go and grabbed his nose, screaming obscenities at me while all the patients went crazy over the physical altercation. “Why don’t you do your  _ fucking _ job, and let me do mine. Damn idiot.”

After the scene I caused I could feel my skin growing hot, and the only thing I could think to do was walk away. My heels angrily clacked through the halls as I tried to find Dr. Thredson, holding my hitting hand in the other. It would definitely be bruised in a few hours. I finally found the room Dr. Thredson was in, but upon seeing the scene inside, I decided to wait outside until the chaos was over. Only moments later, the lights went out and the red backup light turned on, before the two sisters came by, talking of trouble downstairs. “Yeah, there’s trouble,” I muttered to myself, I didn’t trust Sister Jude to do anything about her staff.

I made my way back downstairs, curious to see what was going on. After my display, I was sure that none of the guards would bother me anymore. I only got to the bottom of the steps before I heard a woman screaming for help, screaming about how the killer was trying to escape. I felt a pit in my stomach, though I couldn’t have told you why. I ran through the halls, I saw the woman who had been screaming. Lana Winters, once again. Come to find out, she had been screaming about my patient.

“Kit,” the name left my mouth without my knowledge. Was he going to be okay? After they shoved him into his cell, I looked through the bars of his window. “Are you alright?”

He wasn’t able to answer me before Dr. Thredsons hand rested on my shoulder, signalling that it was time to go. “Take care, Kit.” I followed him outside of the building to his car, getting in once it was unlocked. “What was all that about upstairs?”

“An exorcism.”

“ _ What?” _

“Trust me, I’m not a fan either.”

Before too long I was back at my apartment, and I couldn’t have gotten inside any sooner. I was ready to sit and relax after today, just mull over everything that had happened.

That place was insane.


End file.
